The teachings of BKS Iyengar and High Blood Pressure have been influencing factor's in my life.A student of BKS Iyengar Yoga for over 20 years and adding some breath work and poses that he advises to use – is in my "arsenal" of solutions to manage unhealthy blood pressure.The next series of posts will reveal the types of breath and poses – in video format.Include the Ujjayi breath to your lifestyle and improve your health! Check out the Ujjayi Pranayama!

October has been a busy month for researchers to find a relationship between pre-hypertension, hypertension and functional food. Of course – healthy foods are functional, however in the research setting, scientists are studying specific foods that contain additional health promoting properties, in addition to the basic healthy nutritional components.

Blood pressure reduction was observed by eating the following foods:

Blueberries:

Arpita Basu, professor at Oklahomo Sate University, led a study with the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center to discover blueberries beneficial effect for pre-hypertension prevention – where blood pressure is increased slightly or raises occasionally but not consistently enough to be diagnosed hypertensive. After 8 weeks, of a daily dose of 2 cups of blended blueberries, the pre-hypertensive participants saw up to an 8 point drop in the systolic pressure.

Walnuts and Walnut Oil:

Researchers appearing in an article the in Journal of the American College of Nutrition designed a unique groundbreaking study, looking at the relationship of walnuts and walnut oil, blood pressure, and intentionally induced stressful situations. Participants ingested 9 walnuts per day and found that including walnuts in the diet produced a not only a lowering effect in resting pressures but also in stressful experiences.

Watermelon:

From from Florida State, Dr’s Arjmandi and Figueroa, are published in the American Journal of Hypertension, with a pilot study evaluating pre-hypertensive’s and watermelon. Watermelon contains L-citrulline, an amino acid that has vasodilting effects. L-citrulline, when eaten, is processed by the body into L-arginine, and produces nitric oxide in the blood. Nitric oxide supports healthy blood pressure levels. For the nine participants of the six week experiment, six grams of amino acids L-citrulline/L-arginine, contained in the extract of watermelon, significantly reduces the level of blood pressure. According to Figueroa, benefit from L-citrulline in either the synthetic or natural form of four to six grams per day appears to produce the most optimal results.

The baby below is definitely getting a dose of L-citrulline!

Sources For This Article:http://newsok.com/blueberries-provide-a-host-of-healthy-benefits-oklahoma-research-shows/article/3492829http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-10/ps-wwo100110.phphttp://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-10/fsu-fss101310.php

Managing hypertension with magnesium is one of the 47 (and growing) diseases that have been found to have a significant relationship with low levels of magnesium. It’s been found that 68% of the US population does not meet the US RDA for adequate amounts of magnesium, which according to some is a low estimate.

If you are taking hypertensive medication, and begin to supplement with magnesium, check with your doctor to monitor for the probable need to reduce or eliminate your medication.

LIFE STYLE:
Our friend or foe – lifestyle – can be a factor for dramatic reduction of magnesium. Levels can vary from situation to to situation and hour to hour and I’ve listed just a few conditions or choices that may be impacting you.
Coffee
Diarrhea
Alcohol- any kind
Sodas- both diet and regular
High Table/Iodized Salt Intake
Stress – physical, emotional, mental
Carbohydrates- anything white (sugar, flour,rice) and high fructose corn syrup

BLOOD TESTS FOR MAGNESIUM LEVELS:
Except when evidence suggest that a severe magnesium deficiency exists, if your doctor suggests you do a blood test to evaluate your level, please consider this: a small percentage of magnesium is in the blood, most of it – most of it is contained in the cells. So the possibility of a false negative (normal Level) may show when in fact there is a deficiency.For greater information and research
Check out Dr. Carolyn Dean from The Magnesium Miracle
“A serum test for magnesium is actually worse than ineffective, because a test result that is within normal limits lends a false sense of security about the status of the mineral in the body. It also explains why doctors don’t recognize magnesium deficiency; they assume serum magnesium levels are an accurate measure of all the magnesium in the body.”

CALCULATIONS AND DOSAGES:
In 1997, the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine increased the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for magnesium to 500 milligrams/day. Many report this as the minimum with some advocating up to 1000 milligrams/day. A good average for adults: 2 1/2 to 4 1/2 milligrams per day, per pound of body weight.

DIET SUPPLEMENTATION:
Eating magnesium-rich foods is an option, however unless you are very specific about where you get your food (organic, grown in fertilizer containing magnesium), the purpose will most likely be defeated due to depleted soils.

ORAL SUPPLEMENTS:
Look for magnesium products chelated with ALBION, (the world leader and innovator in mineral amino acid chelate nutrition). You can obtain Albion chelated magnesium in Jigsaw Magnesium w/ SRTBeware! Many companies market and claim their product to be made with a chelate (bound) to other ingredients that allow greater cellular absorption – but in fact, contain elements of differing types of magnesium, which can dramatically magnify a deficiency by causing diarrhea and have been found to be neurotoxic.

Many aspects affect the bodies ability to absorb oral magnesium.

Magnesium can be energizing so it’s best to take supplements in the earlier part of the day and refrain from taking in evening. Interesting though – it helps those with insomnia also, due to magnesium relaxing muscles!

BYPASS THE DIGESTIVE HANG-UP AND POSSIBLE DIARRHEA:
Topical or trans dermal Magnesium enters the cells directly. It is found to be the most efficient method at restoring cellular magnesium levels in the shortest amount of time.
I recommend Ancient Minerals.
While some bath with Epsom Salts for magnesium, absorption can be short-lived as it contains sulfate, which is rapidly excreted through the kidneys and therefore difficult to assimilate.

The value of supplementing with magnesium can not be overstated and is just one more option for controlling your high blood pressure!

The end of April, Brazil’s Health Minister Jose Gomes Temporao discussed the rise in it’s citizens blood pressure, with the “typical” blood pressure lowering advise and also suggested sex 5 times per week.

With all the flurry that surfaced, this is what came to mind:

1. Why do American’s, in particular, get their feathers ruffled so much about sex?

Most of the commentary that came out of his statement produced a lot of jokes and boiled down to the fact that sex 5x/wk, would not be a sufficient cardiovascular workout for heart health benefits.

There is such a concept of the cumulative effects when it comes to “workouts!”

Kudos to Mr. Temporao, for his “holistic” approach to the many modalities for overall health and in particular heart health.

In addition to possible increases in heart rate, (a cardiovascular workout)
studies show that one can experience reduction in depression, stress, blood pressure and boost beneficial hormone production with sex.

Salt Study

Early in May, researcher Dr. Eduardo Pimenta from the Dante Pazzanese Institute of Cardiology, Sao Paulo, Brazil, presented a salt study for American Heart Association’s 62nd Annual Fall Conference ofthe Council for High Blood Pressure Research in Atlanta.

Resistant hypertension is a term used when a person is on 3 or more cardiac medications to control blood pressure.

13 resistant hypertensives were studied and per Dr. Temporao, “We were expecting blood pressure reduction with low-salt diet but the reduction was larger than we expected.”

To gain greater control of your hypertension and possibly reduce the number of cardiac drugs, limit your salt consumption to 1 teaspoon of salt/day.

There is controversy about the notion that salt = hypertension. Looking forward to covering that in a future blog.

In March of 2008, a study was published in the Journal of Hypertension to take a look at the relationship between having a neck adjustment and a drop in high blood pressure.

The results were significant: The average drop in pressure was 17 points! This was so favorable that they commissioned a much larger study.

Located at the very top of the spine, sets the C-1 (Atlas) vertebra. When it’s out of place, it can pinch arteries and nerves at the neck’s base, which affects blood flow and for some causes discomfort.

When the C-1 vertebra is misaligned, it is the bodies natural response to maintain nourishment of the body with oxygen rich blood flow – it does it by raising the pressure.

Some people are queasy about neck manipulations and have been negatively conditioned about chiropractors – consider this:

Chiropractors that specialize in aligning the C1 vertebra, are part of the National Upper Cervical Chiropractor Association or NUCCA. The adjustment is called the NUCCA technique, and is very gentle.

Whether you are currently on medication for high blood pressure or it’s been suggested that you take them, try asking for a cervical x-ray to see if your C1 is out – that may be your blood pressure solution!

Manipulation to realign my C1 was part of my personal protocol for curing my high blood pressure!

It is commonly accepted knowledge that high blood pressure and your race are linked together as a risk factor. Hypertension and race seems to be firmly embedded in our minds and can be readily found in the public: articles, radio, TV, the internet, doctors, health care practitioners and the list goes even deeper to medical schools and research.

Grouping people into races began in the 18th Century before the era of research and medicine embarked on the journey of modern biology and genetics.

Armed with scientifically relevant information,these modern biology researchers now understand the short-sightedness in the inquiry of determining racial differences and view humanity better served by looking at genetic differences. It makes total sense – how many of us in the human race are a mixture of this and that?
African-Americans, Hispanics

Why then are African-Americans in particular, suffering disproportionately more from high blood pressure?

Source:Centers for Disease Control and National Center for Health Statistics, National Health Interview Survey and National Hospital Discharge Survey

Preparation for writing this post, availed me to authors, Dr’s. Kaufman and Cooper, with some welcomed research and opinion in differentiating the importance of re-defining our wording and thoughts, in public and medicine, about race being a risk factor for disease.

Expanded Perspectives For Risk Factors and Race

Variables beyond genetics are psychosocial, economic, cultural, environmental, and other determinants that affects human physiology – these are not well delineated to date, though different researchers have documented that a correlation between high blood pressure and socioeconomic status does exist.

Genetics, Hypertension and Healing with the Masters have an intertwining relationship.

We are told how important it is to know our family medical history – if our family members have high blood pressure, then as a risk factor, we are most likely to succumb to the disease also.

This fate can put us in a victimized controlled state of acceptance, with little options except medicine due to the horrible life-threatening complications that can occur with hypertensive dis-ease.

According to Dr. Chakravarti at the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine, “If we can increase the number of genes implicated in blood pressure maintenance from the current 12 to the expected 50 in the next year, our understanding of the biology will change completely.” The interesting thing about these newly found genes that regulate blood pressure – none are addressed by current prescription drugs to control blood pressure.

New Biology

Perhaps the understanding of biology has already changed completely. This is where Healing with the Masters blends with genetics and high blood pressure.

Currently running and on-going until May 2010, Healing With The Masters is a free interview teleseminar series with the leaders in Wellness and new thought. One of the speakers is Dr. Bruce Lipton, a pioneer in the field of New Biology, where research shows that genes and DNA are not in control of our biology. What controls our genes, are signals received from our positive and negative thoughts!

Check out the video on Dr. Lipton and the New Biology:

Wow! This puts us back in the driver’s seat to control and possibly cure our hypertensive disease.

Healing With The Masters series, is introducing me to new leaders in wellness and I am delighted to see that my friend, Howard Martin, with HeartMath is presenting also!

A study was done to evaluate how many people, scheduled
for surgery, were using cardiac medications and alternative techniques.
(Eric H. Liu,et al; Surgery for acquired cardiovascular disease
and use of alternative medicine by patients undergoing cardiac surgery.)

The result? 75%!

Of significance and something I often encounter when
practicing echocardiography, is that 48% were not
interested or willing to share with their doctor that
they were using alternative therapies.

Cocktails – Medicine And Alternative Therapies

This opens the platform for the concept of cocktails and
the mixing together of ingredients.

Quite common, most medicated hypertensive patients are
on cardiac cocktails (a number of different heart medications.)
The above study would suggest that the majority of people are
combining some type of complimentary modality.

Are you one of those 75% who combine alternative
therapy with high blood pressure medicine?
Please, let us know your experience below.

As a researcher, I would have gone further in the study to
understand why people employ a cocktail of medical modalities.
Perhaps the rational for combining traditional and alternative
methods is a desire to heal the underlying cause versus treating
the symptom of high blood pressure.

Again, the idea of cocktails creates a common connection
between heart medications and complimentary methods.
Just as in traditional medicine, where multiple heart drugs
are often needed to stabilize blood pressure, the same can
be found with holistic medicine – a cocktail of implementing
alternative methods and lifestyle choices is commonly required
to treat the underlying cause of hypertension.

In this blog, we look forward to sharing information and numerous
natural methods which treat the source of high blood pressure,
to empower a healthier, happier you.

A cautionary note: If you are scheduled for surgery, please
discuss with your doctor and anesthesiologist your use of alternative techniques and cardiac medications to ensure the best outcome of the surgery.

I would have never thought tapping to control high blood pressure would save me a trip to the hospital.

Within the last year, my journey with hypertension became much more personal:

It was late at night, laying in bed, and I had bodily symptoms that were so pronounced and frightening, that my mind screamed, “Dangerously High Blood Pressure.”

I was torn on what to do – the traditional side knew I should go to the hospital, the complimentary side wanted to use techniques that have helped others (knowing that getting on hypertensive drugs would possibly bring the pressure down BUT would not fix the underlying problem.

Tapping is the technique that saved me that night, to make it to the next morning and continues to be a part of my health care practice for the normal blood pressure I now have!

Yes, time has passed since the last posting…

This blog was started a year ago to offer options, ideas, information and proven solutions to control high blood pressure and reclaiming health – by any means necessary – so that those who are:

* Diagnosed “Hypertensive” and on medication
* Diagnosed as Pre-Hypertensive & not on medication
* Wishing to reduce and or discontinue medication
* Proactive folks with possible risk factors for heart disease

Could receive value and a platform to share experiences with high blood pressure.

Establishing the site was done with confidence due to 2 factors:

Being a 27+ year practicing echocardiographer, in traditional medicine, seeing 1,000’s of patients for high blood pressure.

Being a 35+ year practitioner in “complimentary” medicine, helping client’s improving their health physically, emotionally, or mentally.

In hind-site, it appears that the confidence, wealth of knowledge, and “removed” experience with high blood pressure and the first posting was not enough.

Tapping, also called Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), is a process that is a combination of Chinese medicine, practiced for thousands of years and modern neurocognitive science. It is a potent tool and has application for any aspect of life.

Currently, “The Tapping World Summit 2010″ is broadcasting an online audio event with over 110,000 people registering. The main summit is free with 2 interview presentations each day, and available to listen to online for 24 hours.

You can also purchase the entire summit as a download or receive the summit in a CD format delivered to your mail box. (I do receive compensation when products are purchased) Additional bonuses are combined with the purchase. The Tapping Solution DVD